So much excitement as we had at our last session could never be sustained. Today's session still managed a respectable 120 new birds but there was no real 'show stopper'.
The range of species was as we have seen recently, with 49 Blackcaps and 29 Chiffchaff. This later species is starting to surge as is usual at this time of year. At the same time the passage of Willow Warblers is easing off as most of them have already gone south. I'll be showing a graph of how these two species time their migration in a later post. While on the subject of Willow Warbler, today saw 3 new birds which took the season total into record numbers. Over recent years we have ringed between 30 and 50 individuals in a season--the previous record being 143 in 2008. So far we have ringed 145 this year--interesting as to why this is; it will also be interesting finding out if we are part of a wider pattern across the country.
We did have a couple of interesting re-traps--birds we catch which we have previously ringed at Belvide. First a Chiffchaff which we first ringed on 31 August 2018. We haven't seen this bird since until last night when we recaptured it--amazingly only one day later than our first encounter 2 years ago!!
At this time of year Long Tailed Tits tend to form roving flocks which attract other tit species as well as other species such as mixed warblers. This morning we caught 2 Long Tailed Tits, 1 Wren, 2 Chiffchaffs and a Blue Tit in the same net at the same time. All were ringed, and when we checked they had all been ringed by us on the same day-(27th July)--at the same time. So it looks like they have become real buddies and spend their time roaming around the reserve. The Chiffchaffs will shortly be saying goodbye.......
Last, we had an inkling that we may be having a passage of Meadow Pipits any time soon, possibly starting on Saturday? More news then.
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